Phooey Farms Harbor Spotlight

Meet J.J. & Michelle DelPriore, owners of Phooey Farms! Opening their doors in 2022, the couple has been serving up fresh, homemade products made from old family recipes, with an extra helping of love on the side. Learning from their grandma’s, J.J. and Michelle both found the joy of cooking, baking, and gardening from an early age. Between making cookies every Christmas with grandma or making Sunday sauce for the family, the DelPriore’s have a strong family connection to food. 

Both from Ashtabula, J.J. and Michelle went to the same high school, but didn’t really know each other well. After re-connecting through their careers in computers, the couple got together. The two found that they were unhappy in their current roles and wanted a different path, looking for a way to follow their passions. J.J. had gone to culinary school earlier in life and Michelle was a life-long gardner, so the two made a conscious choice to live the life they wanted and plan for a future they could be proud of by starting a home garden and farm.

The DelPriore’s spent years selling their handmade products at farmer’s markets and providing items to their local food pantry. When the opportunity came to go brick and mortar, as J.J. said, God opened the doors at the right time. Everything fell into place and the two took a chance in opening their own store in 2022.

The name, Phooey Farms, was inspired by a joke between the two. As Michelle said, the duo had a bit of a ‘bah humbug’ type of personality early on, and when anything would go wrong on the farm, they would go ‘oh phooey!’ They tried to come up with other names, but Phooey Farms stuck and the community fell in love with it.  

In opening Phooey Farms, J.J. and Michelle wanted to provide a place where they could share their love of food and local products with everyone. For the couple, food brings back memories — of grandmas in the kitchen, parents cooking, family meals — and they want their food to bring back those kinds of memories for others. Family is at the heart of Phooey Farms with family members working behind the counter and helping out in the store. 

With the success of starting Phooey Farms, the DelPriore’s were able to take the next step and expand the business into the storefront next door, adding a new line of products to their line-up: ice cream and gelato! The new spot opened up new opportunities with seating options and allowed  Phooey Farms to have more space for customers to hang out, eat there and chat with others. 

One of the things Phooey Farms is most known for is their rotating selection of handmade, fresh bread. With a wide variety and different options daily, J.J makes all the bread from scratch in-house with fresh, local ingredients. For J.J., bread is symbolic — it brings people together over something simple. Breaking bread together creates memories and community. 

Bread is also a perfect symbol of what the DelPriore’s want to provide: memories, family and community. The couple are proud to be able to give back to the community that they love through Phooey Farms. Through collaborations and partnerships with other local farmers and businesses, Phooey Farms has been able to support the community that supports them back. 

With a huge selection of handmade, locally produced products, Phooey Farms is the perfect spot to pick up a baked good for breakfast, grab a sandwich for lunch, or pick up ingredients for dinner. Fresh bread, hot and cold sandwiches, pastries, seasonings, ice cream, gelato, top quality meats and cheeses, and much more fills the shelves, making it a quick and easy stop for the family. 

For the holidays, Phooey Farms will offer a variety of Christmas cookies. Customers can grab a box and create their own custom cookie box for the holidays with all their favorites. They will be offering mystery gift bags with a great variety of items for a discounted price, as well as gift baskets that can be created in store with the products of your choosing.

If you love homemade goodies like grandma used to make, take a trip down memory lane and head to Phooey Farms in the Historic Ashtabula Harbor at 1012 Bridge Street, Ashtabula.